Breaking the bread of God's Word

"In expounding to you the Holy Scriptures, I as it were break bread
for you. If you hunger to receive it, your heart will sing out with
the fullness of praise (Psalm 138:1). If you are thus made rich in
your banquet, be not meager in good works and deeds. What I am
distributing to you is not my own. What you eat, I eat; what you live
upon, I live upon. We have in heaven a common store-house--from it
comes the Word of God."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 45.1)

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January 21st - St. Meinrad, Hermit, Martyr

As the patron and in some sense the founder of the famous abbey of
Einsiedeln in Switzerland, one of the few which have preserved
unbroken continuity since Carolingian times, St. Meinrad (Meginrat)
cannot here be passed over. By birth he is supposed to have been
connected with the family of the Hohenzollerns. He became a priest,
entered the Benedictine abbey at Reichenau, and later on was given
some teaching work beside the upper Lake of Zurich. His soul, however,
pined for solitude, and for the opportunity of devoting himself
entirely to contemplation. He consequently sought out a spot in a
forest, and there, with the permission of his superiors, he settled
about the year 829. The fame of his sanctity, however, brought him
many visitors, and seven years later he found it necessary to move
still farther south and farther from the abodes of men. The place
where he finally took up his abode is now called Einsiedeln (i.e.
Hermitage). There he lived for 25 years, carrying on a constant
warfare with the Devil and the flesh, but favoured by God with many consolations.

On January 21, 861, he was visited by two ruffians who had conceived
the idea that he had treasure somewhere stored away. Though he knew
their purpose, he courteously offered them food and hospitality. In
the evening they smashed in his skull with clubs, but finding nothing,
took to flight. The legend says that two ravens pursued them with
hoarse croakings all the way to Zurich. By this means the crime was
eventually discovered, and the two murderers burnt at the stake. The
body of the saint was conveyed to Reichenau and there preserved with
great veneration. Some forty years later Bl. Benno, a priest of noble
Swabian family, went to take up his abode in St. Meinrad’s hermitage
at Einsiedeln. Though forced, much against his inclination, in 927 to
accept the archbishopric of Metz, he returned to Einsiedeln later on,
gathering round him a body of followers who eventually became the
founders of the present Benedictine abbey.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 21, also the Life of St. Meinrad in
MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, pp. 445 seq. There are many modern accounts
of St. Meinrad; see e.g. 0. Ringholz, Wallfahrtsgeschichte von U. L.
Frau von Einsiedeln, pp. 1-6. The two ravens appear in the arms of
Einsiedeln and are also used as the emblems of the saint.


Saint Quote:
Many appear full of mildness and sweetness as long as everything goes
their own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises,
they are in a flame, and begin to rage like a burning mountain. Such
people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes. This is not
the mildness which Our Lord undertook to teach us in order to make us
like unto Himself.
We ought to be like lilies in the midst of thorns, which, however they
be pricked and pierced, never lose their sweet and gentle fragrance.
-- St. Bernard

Bible Quote:
And giving thanks, broke and said: Take ye and eat: This is my body,
which shall be delivered for you. This do for the commemoration of me.
[1 Cor 11:24] DRB


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Reflection and Prayer from the Imitation of Christ
On Obedience

We must not be satisfied with exteriorly submitting to obedience
and in things that are easy, but we must obey with our whole heart,
and in things the most difficult. For the greater the difficulty, the
greater also is the merit of obedience. Can we refuse to submit to man
for God’s sake, when God, for love of us, submits to man, even to His
very executioners?
Jesus Christ was willingly obedient during His whole life, and
even unto the death of the Cross; and am I unwilling to spend my life
in the exercise of obedience, and to make it my cross and my merit? Independence belongs to God, who has made man dependent upon others,
that his subordination may be to him the means of his sanctification.
I will therefore form myself upon the model of my submissive,
dependent, and obedient Saviour, and dispose of nothing in myself, not
even of my own will.

Prayer:
O my Saviour, Who, in obedience to Thy Father, wast conceived in the
womb of Mary, Who didst go down to Nazareth, and wast subject to Thy
parents for thirty years, Who wouldst be born and live, and die in
obedience, induce us to follow Thine example, to obey Thee in all
things in the persons of our superiors, who hold Thy place in our
regard. Grant that, doing willingly what is ordained us, and
endeavoring to believe it best, we may spend our whole lives in
continual obedience, and thus secure for ourselves Thy grace in time,
and Thy glory for all eternity. Amen.

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